At least 22 people were killed and several others injured in an explosion at a firecracker factory in Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat on Wednesday, ANI reported.

The blaze started in the unit at around 3 pm, which was put out in a couple of hours by firefighters, Hindustan Times reported. It is not clear whether this was the same fire which broke out following the explosion.

Additional director general of police G Janardan said the explosion in the factory at Katera village was so powerful that the walls collapsed. He said that while 18 bodies were recovered, more could be lying under the debris. District collector Bharat Yadav said an inquiry had been ordered to find out what caused the explosion.

A fire at a government-run fuel and grain depot in Madhya Pradesh had killed 13 people on April 21. On April 6, five workers had been burned to death in Jaipur after tonnes of molten rubber leaked at a tyre unit. Six workers had also died when a fire broke out at an air-cooler manufacturing unit at Attapur in Hyderabad on February 21.